Technical Leadership Contract Job Trends in the North West

Technical Leadership
England > North West

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the North West requiring Technical Leadership skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 27 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
27 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 71 82 86
Rank change year-on-year +11 +4 +10
Contract jobs citing Technical Leadership 118 45 34
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 3.18% 2.05% 1.37%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.83% 2.33% 1.62%
Number of daily rates quoted 78 33 21
10th Percentile £474 £451 £463
25th Percentile £502 £463 £525
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £575 £575 £675
Median % change year-on-year - -14.81% +25.58%
75th Percentile £686 £650 £850
90th Percentile £750 £738 -
England median daily rate £580 £600 £619
% change year-on-year -3.33% -2.99% -2.60%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3 2 1
10th Percentile £82.54 £53.98 -
25th Percentile £90.48 £56.68 £62.50
Median hourly rate £107.43 £63.10 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year +70.25% -2.92% -
75th Percentile £111.15 £67.60 £67.50
90th Percentile - £69.13 -
England median hourly rate £95.25 £70.16 £28.25
% change year-on-year +35.76% +148.35% -2.59%

All Process & Methodology Skills
North West

Technical Leadership falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills in the North West.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 3,078 1,931 2,102
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 83.03% 87.93% 84.62%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,815 1,249 1,286
10th Percentile £292 £270 £300
25th Percentile £400 £375 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £492 £450 £500
Median % change year-on-year +9.33% -10.00% -
75th Percentile £594 £575 £588
90th Percentile £675 £671 £675
England median daily rate £525 £513 £525
% change year-on-year +2.44% -2.38% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 300 124 203
10th Percentile £17.25 £13.50 £10.95
25th Percentile £25.38 £18.87 £16.06
Median hourly rate £53.00 £28.75 £30.00
Median % change year-on-year +84.35% -4.17% -1.77%
75th Percentile £75.25 £56.19 £51.44
90th Percentile £85.00 £74.63 £70.67
England median hourly rate £47.00 £25.15 £40.33
% change year-on-year +86.88% -37.63% -5.12%

Technical Leadership
Job Vacancy Trend in the North West

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Technical Leadership relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West.

Technical Leadership job vacancy trend in the North West

Technical Leadership
Daily Rate Trend in the North West

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Technical Leadership.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Technical Leadership

Technical Leadership
Daily Rate Histogram in the North West

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Technical Leadership in the North West over the 6 months to 27 July 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Technical Leadership in the North West

Technical Leadership
Hourly Rate Trend in the North West

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Technical Leadership.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Technical Leadership

Technical Leadership
Hourly Rate Histogram in the North West

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Technical Leadership in the North West over the 6 months to 27 July 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Technical Leadership in the North West

Technical Leadership
Contract Job Locations in the North West

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Technical Leadership within the North West region over the 6 months to 27 July 2026. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Matching
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
Manchester +11 81 £600 - 71
Cheshire +2 21 £525 +10.53% 16
Lancashire 0 7 £675 +5.88% 12
Cumbria -9 3 £500 -17.36%
Merseyside -15 3 £625 +19.05% 5
Technical Leadership
England

Technical Leadership
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the North West by Category

The following tables expand on the one above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. They cover the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each category:

Application Platforms
1 2 (1.69%) CMS
1 2 (1.69%) OpenStack
2 1 (0.85%) Apache
2 1 (0.85%) Apache Airflow
2 1 (0.85%) CICS
2 1 (0.85%) Confluence
Business Applications
1 3 (2.54%) Adobe Campaign
2 2 (1.69%) Dynamics CRM
2 2 (1.69%) SAP S/4HANA
3 1 (0.85%) Dynamics AX
3 1 (0.85%) Salesforce CRM
Cloud Services
1 57 (48.31%) AWS
2 40 (33.90%) Azure
3 17 (14.41%) Serverless
4 15 (12.71%) GCP
4 15 (12.71%) GitHub
5 11 (9.32%) GitHub Actions
6 5 (4.24%) Amazon SQS
6 5 (4.24%) AWS Lambda
6 5 (4.24%) Azure DevOps
6 5 (4.24%) Entra ID
6 5 (4.24%) Microsoft 365
7 4 (3.39%) Amazon EKS
7 4 (3.39%) GitHub Copilot
8 3 (2.54%) Akamai
8 3 (2.54%) Amazon ECS
8 3 (2.54%) Amazon EventBridge
8 3 (2.54%) Amazon S3
8 3 (2.54%) Anthropic Claude
8 3 (2.54%) Google Gemini
8 3 (2.54%) OCI
Communications & Networking
1 9 (7.63%) Firewall
2 7 (5.93%) TCP/IP
3 5 (4.24%) Network Security
3 5 (4.24%) WAN
4 4 (3.39%) DNS
4 4 (3.39%) LAN
4 4 (3.39%) VLAN
4 4 (3.39%) Wi-Fi
4 4 (3.39%) Wireless
5 3 (2.54%) HTTP
6 2 (1.69%) BGP
6 2 (1.69%) MPLS
6 2 (1.69%) NAS
6 2 (1.69%) OSPF
6 2 (1.69%) SAN
6 2 (1.69%) VPN
7 1 (0.85%) Cisco Nexus
7 1 (0.85%) Fibre Channel
7 1 (0.85%) Software-Defined Networking
7 1 (0.85%) Unified Communications
Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (5.93%) DynamoDB
2 6 (5.08%) Data Lake
3 4 (3.39%) MongoDB
3 4 (3.39%) Oracle Database
3 4 (3.39%) Oracle Exadata
3 4 (3.39%) PostgreSQL
3 4 (3.39%) Relational Database
3 4 (3.39%) SQL Server
4 3 (2.54%) Amazon Aurora
4 3 (2.54%) Delta Lake
4 3 (2.54%) NoSQL
5 2 (1.69%) RDBMS
6 1 (0.85%) Amazon RDS
6 1 (0.85%) Apache Iceberg
6 1 (0.85%) Data Warehouse
6 1 (0.85%) DataStage
6 1 (0.85%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
6 1 (0.85%) Metadata
6 1 (0.85%) Spark SQL
6 1 (0.85%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 9 (7.63%) Git
2 7 (5.93%) GitLab
3 5 (4.24%) Jenkins
4 3 (2.54%) Claude Code
4 3 (2.54%) REST Assured
4 3 (2.54%) Selenium
5 2 (1.69%) Flyway
5 2 (1.69%) Gatling
5 2 (1.69%) JIRA
5 2 (1.69%) Liquibase
5 2 (1.69%) Serenity BDD
6 1 (0.85%) JUnit
6 1 (0.85%) Mockito
6 1 (0.85%) SonarQube
6 1 (0.85%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 29 (24.58%) Social Skills
2 24 (20.34%) Public Sector
3 9 (7.63%) Analytical Skills
3 9 (7.63%) Finance
4 7 (5.93%) Military
4 7 (5.93%) Retail
5 5 (4.24%) Marketing
6 3 (2.54%) Banking
6 3 (2.54%) Influencing Skills
7 2 (1.69%) Legal
8 1 (0.85%) Advertising
8 1 (0.85%) Automotive
8 1 (0.85%) Documentation Skills
8 1 (0.85%) Games
8 1 (0.85%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 45 (38.14%) Architect
1 45 (38.14%) Lead
2 16 (13.56%) Lead Architect
3 14 (11.86%) Solutions Architect
3 14 (11.86%) Technical Architect
4 13 (11.02%) Developer
4 13 (11.02%) Principal Engineer
4 13 (11.02%) Senior
5 10 (8.47%) Lead Developer
5 10 (8.47%) Technical Leader
6 5 (4.24%) Java Developer
6 5 (4.24%) Network Engineer
6 5 (4.24%) Software Engineer
7 4 (3.39%) AWS Engineer
7 4 (3.39%) Full-Stack Engineer
7 4 (3.39%) Lead Java Developer
7 4 (3.39%) Security Architect
8 3 (2.54%) Data Engineer
8 3 (2.54%) Security Engineer
8 3 (2.54%) Senior Full-Stack Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 15 (12.71%) Node.js
2 12 (10.17%) React
3 9 (7.63%) .NET
3 9 (7.63%) Spring
4 8 (6.78%) REST
5 7 (5.93%) RESTful
5 7 (5.93%) Spring Boot
6 6 (5.08%) Middleware
7 5 (4.24%) Kafka
7 5 (4.24%) Next.js
7 5 (4.24%) OAuth
7 5 (4.24%) OpenID
8 4 (3.39%) 802.1X
8 4 (3.39%) AngularJS
8 4 (3.39%) AWS CDK
9 3 (2.54%) .NET Framework
9 3 (2.54%) Entity Framework
9 3 (2.54%) Nunjucks
9 3 (2.54%) RabbitMQ
9 3 (2.54%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 23 (19.49%) Cloud Native
2 10 (8.47%) Distributed Systems
2 10 (8.47%) Private Cloud
3 9 (7.63%) Operational Technology
4 8 (6.78%) Data Protection Act
4 8 (6.78%) Product Ownership
5 6 (5.08%) Cyber Threat
5 6 (5.08%) Legacy Systems
5 6 (5.08%) Replication
6 5 (4.24%) Onboarding
7 4 (3.39%) Marketing Technology
8 3 (2.54%) Culture of Ownership
8 3 (2.54%) Data Centre
8 3 (2.54%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
8 3 (2.54%) Enterprise Software
8 3 (2.54%) Security Posture
9 2 (1.69%) Educational Technology
9 2 (1.69%) Hybrid Cloud
9 2 (1.69%) Insider Threat
9 2 (1.69%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 9 (7.63%) Linux
2 5 (4.24%) Windows
3 3 (2.54%) AIX
3 3 (2.54%) Windows Server
4 2 (1.69%) Unix
5 1 (0.85%) Android
5 1 (0.85%) Apple iOS
5 1 (0.85%) Mac OS
5 1 (0.85%) Solaris
5 1 (0.85%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 36 (30.51%) DevOps
2 32 (27.12%) CI/CD
3 31 (26.27%) Microservices
4 30 (25.42%) Mentoring
5 29 (24.58%) Continuous Improvement
6 27 (22.88%) Agile
7 25 (21.19%) Infrastructure as Code
8 23 (19.49%) Roadmaps
9 22 (18.64%) Problem-Solving
9 22 (18.64%) Stakeholder Management
10 21 (17.80%) Software Engineering
11 20 (16.95%) Risk Management
12 17 (14.41%) Event-Driven
12 17 (14.41%) Integration Patterns
12 17 (14.41%) Observability
13 16 (13.56%) Architectural Patterns
13 16 (13.56%) Event-Driven Architecture
13 16 (13.56%) Test Automation
14 15 (12.71%) Enterprise Architecture
15 14 (11.86%) Migration
Programming Languages
1 15 (12.71%) TypeScript
2 14 (11.86%) Python
3 13 (11.02%) Java
4 11 (9.32%) JavaScript
5 10 (8.47%) SQL
6 8 (6.78%) C#
7 4 (3.39%) Bash
8 3 (2.54%) PowerShell
9 2 (1.69%) PL/SQL
10 1 (0.85%) COBOL
10 1 (0.85%) Go
Qualifications
1 37 (31.36%) Security Cleared
2 35 (29.66%) SC Cleared
3 6 (5.08%) BPSS Clearance
3 6 (5.08%) Cisco Certification
4 5 (4.24%) CCNP
5 4 (3.39%) Degree
6 3 (2.54%) CCIE
6 3 (2.54%) CCNA
6 3 (2.54%) Computer Science Degree
7 2 (1.69%) Microsoft Certified Professional
7 2 (1.69%) TOGAF Certification
8 1 (0.85%) ACSP
8 1 (0.85%) AWS Certification
8 1 (0.85%) Azure Certification
8 1 (0.85%) DV Cleared
8 1 (0.85%) Master's Degree
8 1 (0.85%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (8.47%) QA
2 7 (5.93%) GDPR
3 6 (5.08%) Accessibility
4 3 (2.54%) GRC
4 3 (2.54%) NIST
5 2 (1.69%) NIST 800
5 2 (1.69%) Sarbanes-Oxley
6 1 (0.85%) Data Quality
6 1 (0.85%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 1 (0.85%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
6 1 (0.85%) NCSC
6 1 (0.85%) PCI DSS
6 1 (0.85%) SOC 2
6 1 (0.85%) Software Quality Assurance
6 1 (0.85%) Solvency II
System Software
1 20 (16.95%) Docker
2 4 (3.39%) Oracle RAC
3 3 (2.54%) Active Directory
3 3 (2.54%) VMware Infrastructure
4 2 (1.69%) Ceph
4 2 (1.69%) KVM
4 2 (1.69%) Virtual Desktop
5 1 (0.85%) Hyper-V
5 1 (0.85%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 26 (22.03%) Terraform
2 17 (14.41%) Kubernetes
3 8 (6.78%) Ansible
4 5 (4.24%) Single Sign-On
5 4 (3.39%) Data Guard
5 4 (3.39%) Grafana
5 4 (3.39%) Oracle RMAN
6 3 (2.54%) Prometheus
7 2 (1.69%) CASB
7 2 (1.69%) Microsoft Intune
8 1 (0.85%) NetBackup
8 1 (0.85%) Progress Chef
8 1 (0.85%) Puppet
8 1 (0.85%) SCCM
Vendors
1 16 (13.56%) Microsoft
2 9 (7.63%) Google
3 5 (4.24%) Oracle
4 4 (3.39%) CyberArk
4 4 (3.39%) Palo Alto
4 4 (3.39%) VMware
5 3 (2.54%) Adobe
5 3 (2.54%) Aruba
5 3 (2.54%) CheckPoint
5 3 (2.54%) Databricks
5 3 (2.54%) Ekahau
5 3 (2.54%) SAP
5 3 (2.54%) Splunk
6 2 (1.69%) Cisco
6 2 (1.69%) Fortinet
6 2 (1.69%) Zscaler
7 1 (0.85%) PagerDuty
7 1 (0.85%) Salesforce Marketing Cloud
7 1 (0.85%) ServiceNow
7 1 (0.85%) Veeam